1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a recording apparatus which is capable of recording images such as characters, figures or video images on a recording medium such as plain paper, worked paper or a plastic sheet for OHP.
2. Related Background Art
Various types of recording apparatuses for recording images such as characters and figures have heretofore been developed. They include, for example, a so-called serial printer in which a recording head effects recording while moving relative to a recording sheet, a so-called line printer in which recording is effected on a recording sheet being conveyed by a line-shaped recording head, and a so-called handy printer in which the apparatus body having a recording head is manually scanned relative to a recording sheet to thereby effect recording.
The recording positioning when these recording apparatuses effect recording is accomplished, for example, in the serial printer or the line printer, by causing the end portion of a recording sheet to bear against a guide member provided with a predetermined position as a reference and setting the recording sheet, or by inputting an image signal so as to correspond to a recording position. Also, in the handy printer as shown in FIG. 11 of the accompanying drawings, recording positioning marks a, b and c are usually provided on the apparatus body and the design is such that when the apparatus body is scanned in the direction of arrow I, recording is effected between the marks a and b and recording is started from the mark c.
However, the aforedescribed recording apparatuses have suffered from the following problems.
In the serial printer and the line printer, recording is limited to a sheet-like recording media and cannot be effected on a notebook or a book and further, recording positioning is cumbersome.
On the other hand, the handy printer can effect recording on a notebook or the like, but because of the manual scanning, the image may sometimes deviate in the direction of scanning and there is the possibility that it is difficult to record the same image accurately. Also, as regards the recording positioning, the actual recording position cannot be looked at squarely, and this leads to the problem that skill is required for accomplishing highly accurate positioning.
That is, the prior-art handy printer can accomplish recording with the amount of movement thereof relative to the recording sheet by manual scanning detected because the recording information is characters and accordingly the recording density is 8 pels or less, but in the case of an image (256.times.256 picture elements) in which the recording information is of the order of 16 pels, the recording density becomes higher and the recording width also becomes wider and therefore, there has been the problem that irregularity of recording scan is liable to occur and the image may be deteriorated.